[genesis]

Once upon a time, in an area 1.5 hours from Mumbai, a gentleman set up a dirt racing track and a training school




On which people with soft roaders enjoyed monsoons doing sedate laps




But one day a few young gentlemen discovered its offroading potential



And decided to call their friends from

Bombay






Alibag



And Pune





For a few spins around the track...




But after some sedate rounds




They soon got bored





And it was time to make their own trails







Which would befit a day out



With the BAAPs of Bombay Alibag And Pune



to be continued...

[mohan]

And for the uninitiated, a snap of the photographer+script writer turned serious offroader..

SOUMYA




Sorry for the interruption..Soumya please continue with the story.

[genesis]

A few well made calls during the auspicious days of Eid and Ganesh Chaturthi,


Promising a great day in the slush



And the promised appearance of a certain mystery jeep (almost as mythical as a certain mystical Jonga)



Saw the parking lot of the Automission track in Khopoli start filling up on Sunday morning





And by 10.00 am it was quite the place to be



Probably influenced by the Low Rider cults, The High riders were strutting out their stuff



Since we were unable to get the Red Bull girls, we got some male models to pose for the camera





Soon, the softies were splashing around happily




While a few determined ones went ahead into the woods to find ONE obstacle









Which would be a challenging for the day



to be continued...

[53BHP]

Interesting and witty writeup Genesis. Keep it coming. I had fun too.... Got stuck, then got winched. Got a lot of work to do on driving technique and maybe more appropriate skinnies too. But I guess its more technique than tires... Some BAAP's with huge tyres and GC also got stuck

Gogi awesome Jeep buddy. As too Jervis and company with their Gypsies....

Originally Posted by genesis

A few well made calls during the auspicious days of Eid and Ganesh Chaturthi,
===============
to be continued...

[sudev]

This definition of F U N !! BAAP's you are a rocking group.

[MileCruncher]

Looks like the BAAPs had too much of FUN!

Damn we don't get much slush here in these parts

[V-16]

Typical, Soumya kind of narration and thread title coupled with some great pictures. Something tells me this is not all. I did see him clicking away to glory and at the same time could see his mind thinking on what pic would go with what narration. Great job as usual buddy, dont stop here and continue please.

Originally Posted by mohan

And for the uninitiated, a snap of the photographer+script writer turned serious offroader..
SOUMYA

You missed resident foodie Mohan

Originally Posted by 53BHP

Interesting and witty writeup Genesis. Keep it coming. I had fun too.... Got stuck, then got winched. Got a lot of work to do on driving technique and maybe more appropriate skinnies too.

Im glad you liked the Jeep buddy. It was great to see you in your MM540 which you did up with so much enthusiasm. I have been trying to get you to come and attend at least one of these excursions with us. You missed the AKC and Examm but im glad you finally attended this one. Now i know you must e itching to attend the next one....Great!!

But I guess its more technique than tires... Some BAAP's with huge tyres and GC also got stuck

Yup and no. See Rohit, its right when you say that technique rides over equipment. Just adding big tyres, winches and recovery equipping does not automatically guarantee one's safety from getting stuck at an obstacle. Here is where driver technique counts and even here, there is again the issue of the terrain.

You were behind me all the way and i egged you to go on when you were in doubts. If you tackle a doable obstacle rightly, its a cakewalk. I remember telling the Fortuner and the Endevour guys not to even try the first descent, even when they were really wanting to go for it. It was a definite get stuck place and then pulling them from that area would be a great task.

When the Gypsy got stuck in front of me, i had to go behind him in the same track to pull him out, that meant going into already deadly, quick swamp type of area but then if i didnt, it would be next to impossible to get him out. This Gypsy got stuck for bad tyres and a bit of driver error but thats ok, all of us make mistakes. He should have seen the size of the dig ins prior to him and avoided that path. after he was winched out, i tried to reverse to where you were parked and take the left path but was setting stuck while reversing so the only option was to go ahead from where i was, that was simply not going to happen and though i tried again and again, i got tuck. I could from there go a bit in reverse but the rut was so deep by then, i was slipping in the same place. Only whe i got out of the car i realized that it was more than knee deep, thats serious clay type muck. Im positive that if i had tried from the extreme left, i could have made it but then getting to the extreme left was next to impossible due to the knee deep tracks.

Great to see a preview of Tejas's CAVITY (what else would he call his Jeep?) Still a lot of work to go, right now in its spartan best with only the drive train and mechanicals sorted out. A wide track MM550 with lots else to it. In the slush pit it was making its own track, different from the ones there were already existing. Looks menacing with its high and wide stance from the rear view. It will IMHO run circles round all obstacles. Saw it effortlessly take on all the obstacles with ease and get through. It also got through this slush pit earlier and then Tejas got stuck. Reason its sporting a newly built engine which needs to be run in properly, thats why i was ahead of it on the way in and out of the track on the highway to make sure he only does 60kmph. This was because his Jeep had no speedo so he had to depend on mine, the Jeep ahead of him. Tejas tried once more onthe same pit and got stuck, this time because he was going easy on the engine and not wanting to rev it high so it was winched out. Then Amol grabbed the Jeep took a huge run up and stepped on the gas, clearing the pit easily. I loved the look on the good doctors face when he was mocked by us for not being able to make it....alls all in good fun. Never stopped mocking Tejas for it till we left.

It was great to see bhpians like Bhushan Musale(Evo6) wih his friends from Poona. They enjoyed too, though Bhushan's Jeep could not be ready on time. Great to meet up with Kishore, Kunal, Nishanth, Mohan and the others once again. Had been a long time. Must offroad again before the rains die down.
Was great also to see new entrants to the offroading scene. Enthusiastic and rearing to go.

Thanks to Imran too for the delicious Chicken Pattice breakfast which kept us going till lunch.

All in all it was a slush fest. There was no other terrian but slush and that was very very challenging. In the summer, it would just be a dirt track which would not be very challengin for an offroader but rains dramatically change the equation. I loved it though im a bit weary of getting into this deep slush but who had a choice.

We reached on time, finished on time and had a good meal of barbeque and other stuff. Very well organized by Pradeep. Thank you for having us over.

My highlight was to see old friends and some serious offroaders come together as one and to get to see the camaraderie once again was simply the icing on the cake......the mud cake (pun intended)

I would like to do this more often, with the same group, in the same spirit. All of us offroading, helping stuck people get out laughing, sitting, eating together. Hopefully this is just the beginnig of this age old camaraderie which has otherwise become so scarce.

Soumya, you may now carry on.

[mohan]

Adding a few photographs to the story narrated so far.
Courtesy: Huda.












More photos to be added as the story moves further...

[genesis]

Seeing that my friend's spanking new Land Rover Discovery was not the ideal vehicle to test the terrain (more for monetary reasons than capability!)

We disembarked to see vehicles disappearing down a slush filled road which curved around a bend



Seeing the depth of the slush, we decided so save our footwear and quickly hopped onto Jervis's 'First Floor Gypsy',
Which effortlessly made it through without a scratch




Soon, we heard sounds of gunning engines coming from the same direction,
some walkie talkie chatter about having tow rope but no shackle and lo
and behold, two beefy vehicles



and one beefy gent appeared carrying a shackle and disappeared around the bend



Since Jiggy was getting bored as usual,



it was time to take a spin, do a water crossing to keep him entertained, come back to the same place and walk around the bend to see
Some nice mayhem with serious winching action




Some major arguments on technique





While some hapless souls with the wrong tyres waited to be rescued
out of the seriously churned up track



By the 'strategically positioned on the edge of a river bank' friendly neighbourhood 'to-chain' guy




Track cleared, it was time for Gogi to show the boys how it was done




With a promising start




Some mid range hiccups



And a slushy stop (stuck for first time since he got the jeep 2 months ago)



And it was time to 'to-chain' again



While a strapping lad, waited in the wings



To come to 'Papa'...

[karan561]

This was my first OTR with the FORTUNER.

Thanks everyone for all the support.

[genesis]

Originally Posted by genesis

While a strapping lad, waited in the wings

To come to 'Papa'...

continued...

But the superb LPG powered 1 liter gypsy belonging to mudslinger Nishant



Too got bogged down



And in the end it was papa who had the last laugh



Out of the corner came a purple jeep like a bat out of hell




But in the end it was the hellish slush which won









While Bhaiyaji smiled in Dabang style




In the midst of this mayhem,

One gypsy driven by Ibrahim made it thru




And as we hitched a ride back with him,



We realised that the reason for his tearing hurry was a sumptuous lunch
back at basecamp



And as we take this lunch break, here are some other pictures of our other male models

Amol aka sunchaser aka beefy gent





Gogi aka V-16 aka beefy arms




Jiggy aka Viper





Cavity Owner, Gogi and Prasad



Visions of whom, will hopefully whet up your appetite for more...

[Samurai]

Wow, that is some serious mud. We Karnataka boys too had our share of mud few days back at Somwarpet.

Great narration Soumya and Gogi. Do continue soon.

[53BHP]

Thanks Gogi for all the support. Learning better technique will come with experience.And the right attitude. Hope I have both. Will do something about the skinny tyres too

Jervis said the guys had a whole lot of fun after we left too. Missed that. But I left early to go to my house about 15km away and wash out the MM and got all the muck out before heading home. Boy was I glad I did

Next time we go out and anyone wants to wash up before heading home, drop in to my house. Plenty of water and a karcher handy

Missing AKC and EXXAM was un avoidable. The issue had to be serious to pay the entry and not turn up. But hey we had a great time. The food was great, the company and camaraderie was fabulous. And like Timothy was saying on the way home, these outings are great because there is no pressure to perform. You just come out and have fun. Its not like you have to win and there is always a chicken route to take if you dont want to do a particularly tough obstacle

Yes will surely be back for more. and better prepared too

PS: Soumya keep it coming man. Your narrative style and photography is KA

[fazalaliadil]

Soumya,

Great commentary there.

Next time hope to see the real Red Bull models and give our over worked boys a rest.

Met all of you great guys and miss being there.

The day at EXAMM... even an inch plus of wet top soil was enough to make most Jeeps into side winders. It was fun.
Regards,

[Twinn]

Hi Sowmya - This is a damn neat and hilarious way to get smokes out from the ones who missed the show . Awesome buddy!!!

Out of the blues, was that beige jeep with single seat Tejas drive?